Myntra acquires US-based virtual fitting room creator Fitiquette

Bangalore-based Myntra Designs Pvt Ltd, which runs the lifestyle e-commerce site Myntra.com, has closed its second acquisition within weeks by snapping up San Francisco-based virtual fitting room startup Fitiquette for an undisclosed amount.

The move will strengthen Myntra's ability to compete in the hyper competitive lifestyle e-commerce category where players like Rocket Internet Ventures-backed Jabong, among others, besides horizontal e-tailers like Flipkart are trying to grab marketshare.

Earlier this year, Mukesh Bansal, founder and CEO, Myntra.com had announced at Techcircle's E-commerce Forum that the firm is about to close the acquisition of a non-e-commerce firm.

Fitiquette is a developer of virtual fitting room technology founded by Andy Pandharikar and Anant Kumar. Supported by patented technology, Fitiquette enables shoppers to create a body replica to try-on clothing in different sizes. The product is still in pilot mode, but it has already gained some traction. A limited beta launch attracted some 20,000 users and somewhere between 2 million and 3 million try-ons, as reported by Techcrunch.

In an e-mail response, Bansal informed that it was a part stock part cash deal, but declined to give any further details. Post acquisition, Fitiquette will become an in-house application and will get integrated into the Myntra.com website, he said. The technology will be integrated at Myntra within next two months. The Fitiquette team will be joining Myntra and Pandharikar will head Myntra's newly formed Innovation Labs in San Francisco. Sharing what made him zero in on Fitiquette, Bansal stated that most other virtual studios only allow users to visualise the look whereas Fitiquette helps customers arrive at the right size. "Fitiquitte would give us a competitive advantage," he said.

Earlier Myntra.com, acquired Exclusively.in Inc., the company behind the private label brand Shersingh.com and the fashion site Exclusively.in, in a cash-cum-equity deal, for an undisclosed amount. It later on turned into a catalogue site pushing all transactions to the Myntra website.

Talking to Techcircle.in, Bansal had earlier stated that Myntra is looking at acquisitions very opportunistically. He had said the firm is open to more acquisitions in the coming years. "We may do acquisitions either based on very specific technological capabilities or niche verticals, where someone dominates a particular sub category affiliated to the overall category of fashion and lifestyle," he had said.